After losing his job in the dot-com bust, Zach Rogue (whose real last name is Schwartz) was searching for something new.

So he formed a band with four other musicians from the Bay Area and they called themselves Rogue Wave.

After releasing two albums in 2004 and 2005, the band’s most recent album, “Asleep at Heaven’s Gate,” has put Rogue Wave in the limelight. Their songs have been featured in shows such as “Heroes” and “Nip/Tuck” and commercials for the Microsoft Zune, and the band has even found themselves opening for major indie acts Death Cab for Cutie and, most recently, Jack Johnson.

“The Death Cab tour was just a shock for us,” Rogue says. “We were playing in front of such big crowds and large venues. And now it’s maybe even more of a shock because we’re playing for probably 30,000 people with Jack.”

A large crowd can be expected when Rogue Wave and Neil Halstead open for Jack Johnson Aug. 15 at Capitol Federal Park at Sandstone. Rogue and the rest of the band are hoping to find an audience in the masses of listeners.

“We’re still trying to figure out if our music makes sense in that kind of forum,” Rogue explains. “But I guess if people are listening and responsive, it’s that much more gratifying.”

These new listeners are discovering a band whose indie sound is charged by powerful lyrics. Songs from “Asleep at Heaven’s Gate” such as “Lake Michigan” and “Harmonium” are centered on greed and environmental and political destruction.

“We go everywhere in this country and we see everything. We see it imploding, and there’s terrible decline,” Rogue says.

Other songs are more personal. The album’s final track, titled “Cheaper Than Therapy,” is based on Rogue Wave’s guitar player, Gram LeBron, losing someone very close to him.

“We were on the road and I asked Gram if he wanted to go home,” Rogue recalls. “And he said ‘no.’ He wanted to stay because he said playing music was cheaper than therapy.”

For a deep, politically charged indie rock experience, check out Rogue Wave and Jack Johnson next Friday. The show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $35 to $45, and parking is free for drivers of alternative-fuel vehicles.